Trauma and Emergency Radiology
Currently, the University of Maryland Medical Center’s Trauma and Emergency Radiology section is accepting applications for fellowships in:
Academic year 2016-2017, and
Academic year 2017-2018.
Overview of the Trauma and Emergency Radiology Section
The 8-member Trauma and Emergency Radiology section is part of the Department of Radiology at the University of Medical Center (UMMC), which is a quaternary referral center that includes the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center (STC), an urban emergency department (ED), a Comprehensive Stroke Center, and a large number of intensive care beds. The section’s faculty and fellows provide 365/24/7 in-house coverage of the STC and UMMC ED with emphasis on radiography, CT, and MRI. The breadth of the section’s clinical coverage results in its involvement with patients presenting with a wide spectrum of traumatic and non-traumatic emergent conditions.
Reflecting the role of Radiology in contemporary Trauma and Acute Care medicine, the Trauma and Emergency Radiology Section is very busy, interpreting nearly 90,000 imaging studies in Fiscal Year 2015. During that time, the section accounted for 30% of all imaging studies and just over one-half of all CT scans performed in the Department of Radiology for the entire University of Maryland Medical Center.
Most of the section’s service is provided to patients at the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center, which is the state of Maryland’s Primary Adult Resource Center (PARC) for trauma, a designation mandating clinical services and facilities greater than those needed for level I trauma center designation. The center’s wide catchment area includes most of Maryland, in addition to parts of Delaware, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Due to its large catchment area, which includes urban, suburban, and rural areas, and PARC designation, the center treats a large volume of patients presenting with a wide spectrum of injuries resulting from a variety of different injury mechanisms.
In addition to serving acutely traumatized patients in STC’s Trauma Resuscitation Unit (TRU), the section is responsible for all diagnostic imaging performed for in-patients and outpatients under the care of the Trauma Surgery service. The section also serves the center’s busy soft tissue infection service and critical care receiving unit (CCRU), which is an 8-bed facility that serves as the point of entry into the medical center for many critical care patients transferred to UMMC. Patients in the CCRU suffer from a number of complex, non-traumatic conditions, including brain attack, cerebral aneurysm, aortic dissection, mesenteric ischemia, acute limb ischemia, and ARDS.
The Trauma Radiology facility is located adjacent to the trauma admitting area (i.e., TRU) and includes portable radiography, two MDCT scanners (Philips 64-slice and 40-slice, latter scheduled for upgrade to Siemens FORCE, dual source, dual-energy CT in Spring 2016), and a reading room with three PACS workstations. All clinical workstations have TeraRecon and syngo.via post-processing capabilities.
The section also serves the Adult ED, which is a 50-bed facility physically separate from the trauma center that includes 12-bed observation and 11-bed ambulatory units. It covers primarily non-traumatic and minor emergencies. The imaging facility within the ED includes a 256-slice MDCT, research 3T MRI unit, two free-standing direct radiography units, portable radiography, ultrasound, and a reading room with five PACS workstations. The separate pediatric emergency department is served primarily by the Pediatric Radiology section.
Section members are recognized nationally and internationally as experts in the areas of Trauma and Emergency Radiology. Members routinely publish book chapters and peer-reviewed research in areas related to Trauma Radiology, lecture at national society meetings, and participate in the education of trainees in Diagnostic Radiology, as well as Trauma Surgery, Emergency Medicine, and Critical Care Medicine.
Trauma and Emergency Radiology Fellowship
The goal of the Trauma and Emergency Radiology fellowship is to train radiologist who are experts in the use of imaging to both diagnose and characterize acute illnesses and injuries, especially polytrauma, in a high volume, fast-paced environment that typifies an Emergency Radiology practice.
Clinical experience is the most important component of the program, and the fellow is an integral participant in the Trauma and Emergency Radiology section’s clinical activities, including evening, weekend, and overnight coverage. As the year progresses and his/her experience increase, the fellow is granted graduated clinical independence until he/she is able to run the service without assistance at any hour of the day.
In addition to clinical service, the section has a strong teaching commitment, which applies to the fellow as both a trainee and an educator. The section actively participates in weekly conferences with both the Emergency Medicine and Trauma Surgery services. A weekly intra-section case conference involves section faculty, the fellow, and radiology residents. Daily teaching of medical students and radiology residents assigned to the section while at the PACS workstation is a fundamental part of the fellow's responsibilities. The fellow is expected to conduct 2-3 didactic lectures or case conferences for the radiology residents.
The section is academically productive, and members participate in a number of research activities both within the section and in collaboration with our clinical colleagues. Though not mandatory, participation by the fellow research is strongly encouraged, and, when possible, academic time is provided to work on an approved project.
If desired, up to two 1-2-week electives in Neuroradiology, Ultrasound, and/or Pediatric Radiology can be arranged to augment the fellowship.
The University of Maryland Medical Center’s Department of Radiology hires 1-2 fellows to participate in its Trauma and Emergency Radiology every academic year. The typical application cycle spans late 2nd-year to early 3rd-years of Radiology residency. Applicants must have passed ABR core exam, or be ABR certified, and meet requirements for Maryland licensure.
The fellowship coordinator is Alexis Boscak, MD and the section director is Clint W. Sliker, MD, and